CATL's new sodium battery lasts 30 years and is already replacing lithium in grid storage

The world's largest battery maker is now bringing its sodium-ion technology to Europe in a pretty serious way. CATL and Dutch grid storage firm Alfen announced on July 16 a collaboration to roll out 5 GWh of CATL's Tener Sodium battery systems across the continent. This is one of the biggest sodium-ion commitments European infrastructure has seen in a while. Deployments are scheduled to begin in 2027.

The two companies are not new to each other. Alfen and CATL started a long-term battery supply partnership in 2023 and have been working together on lithium-ion storage projects since. This new deal adds sodium to that relationship. It's a huge step for Alfen, which has more than 1 GWh of storage installed across Europe and has been building energy storage systems since 2011 under its 90-year history as an electricity infrastructure company.

For Alfen, the commercial logic is quite straightforward. Sodium is roughly 1,000 times more abundant than lithium, which can insulate buyers from the price swings that have been bugging the storage industry in recent years. This new move can diversify Alfen's battery material portfolio even further, in addition to making it even more competitive regarding mid-to-large scale European project tenders.

On the other hand, for CATL, the deal means that the company gets real-world European grid deployment experience for its Tener Sodium platform (which it unveiled in Munich on June 22). The system is rated for 15,000 cycles, translating into a 25-to-30-year service life. It retains over 92% of its capacity at -20°C without active cooling hardware. Most lithium iron phosphate systems are warranted for a few thousand to roughly 10,000 cycles by comparison.

Interestingly, this Alfen deal comes shortly after a 60 GWh sodium supply agreement CATL signed with integrator HyperStrong in April. This is also the largest sodium order ever placed.